FIGURE C

Oooh, I like the pretty colors and the funky musical notes. Click picture for a larger image.

All that's left is to select Start. At this point, ZapNotes does its thing. The counter starts, and after waiting for a couple of minutes, Notes is ready to roll again.

ZapNotes has a couple of other cool features to keep in mind. The first is the log. After zapping Notes, you can choose View Log to see what files ZapNotes did away with. This allows you to see what culprits were running in the background when ZapNotes cleared them away.

The other really useful function is the ability to edit the ZapNotes.ini file. This file is nothing more than a list of the tasks ZapNotes goes searching to kill. After viewing the logs, you can determine patterns and whittle this list down to only the likely suspects. This considerably speeds up the time it takes ZapNotes to kill processes. Considering the lengthy time it normally takes to do this job, this step can be a huge help.

I'd rather call a medic
The other tool out there to allow Notes clients to restart without a reboot is NotesMedic from Cassetica. NotesMedic is another one-trick pony, but it does its one trick very well.

The first thing you have to do is obtain NotesMedic from the Cassetica Web site at http://www.cassetica.com/cassetica/notesmedic.asp. NotesMedic is also free. The only difference is that you have to register with Cassetica in order to obtain your software, as seen in Figure D.

FIGURE D

Registration is required! Click picture for a larger image.

Cassetica also offers an Enterprise License to install NotesMedic throughout your organization for only $995. I wasn't able to find any additional reasons or requirements to pay anywhere on the site, and you can see in Figure E that even the "readme" file for ZapNotes states, "NotesMedic is a great corporate-wide solution that is free and requires little or no maintenance but has an incredible value."

FIGURE E

The readme says "free," so it must be free! Click picture for a larger image.

I'm still unsure about the $995; maybe Cassetica will make it a little clearer on their Web site soon.

Lets move on to the good stuff. Once you've downloaded and installed the software (which is just as easy and painless as ZapNotes) you're ready to wait with giddy anticipation for your next Notes crash. One thing here that's much better than ZapNotes is that the install creates a shortcut on your desktop. Some people are annoyed by software that has this feature, but for support purposes, it couldn't be better.

Fire up the defibrillators!
Now the time has come. Your Notes client inexplicably crashes at the most inopportune time, and if you have to reboot, you swear you'll have to fling your laptop out the nearest window. Never fear, NotesMedic will bring beloved Notes back to life.

All you have to do is select the NotesMedic icon on your desktop and double-click. NotesMedic fires up, speedily kills the rogue processes, and lets you restart your client, all from within the NotesMedic window, shown in Figure F.